2014 MFA Students

Michele Ridgeway

Artist Statement
I construct anecdotal narratives through video, performance art and sculpture which reveal universal themes of humanity that acknowledge that we are fleeting and changing beings. The daily struggles, emotions, and situations of family, mothers, middle age, and home are the text that I draw inspiration from. The durational performances emphasize process, chance, time, endurance, and repetitive obsession to reinforce these themes.

Through the medium of video I perform the everyday gestures that might occur in the home; icing a cake, wiping a mirror, nurturing with cooking, decorating and stitching. These narratives conflate the lines between the practices of life, art and the domestic.

My sculptural work is composed of domestic materials; icing, gingerbread, doilies, curtains, and mirrors. The mirror exists in the work as identity, stillness, a look into the now as well as reflection upon the past. The icing sculptures represent a repetitive obsession evident in the gesture of celebrations and are inspired by decorative elements in the home. Doilies, curtains, and other household linens are sewn to recall stories from childhood and a repeated desire to comfort and nurture. The objects that I make are similar to the video works in that they engage the domestic aesthetic in both size and material. They reinforce the themes of endurance, process, and repetitive obsession in their construction.